St Katherine's ring

[Angie]

Dear friends,
Christ is Risen!

I would like to ask whether anyone knows how can I get St Katherine's Ring, the one that the monks give at Mt Sanai?

I have heared that it is given to the guests after the monastery to remember there visit.

Can anyone help me?

Maybe an email or address of the monastery? Elizabeth you seem to know a lot about the monastery, could you help?

Many thanks
God Bless
Angela +++

[Nina]

Dear friends,
Christ is Risen!

I would like to ask whether anyone knows how can I get St Katherine's Ring, the one that the monks give at Mt Sanai?

I have heared that it is given to the guests after the monastery to remember there visit.

Can anyone help me?

Maybe an email or address of the monastery? Elizabeth you seem to know a lot about the monastery, could you help?

Many thanks
God Bless
Angela +++

Truly He is Risen!

Dear Angela,

Please, if you are not able to obtain a ring of Saint Katherina, you can let me know. I have a couple of them. My Spiritual Father gave them to me as a blessing. I am not at home now, and I can not check if I have them at my home, or if I have left them overseas at my parents' home. In any case, you can always fall back on this solution if you can not obtain the ring and if the rings I have are on the size of your finger. Actually many times when I was going through my things I was sad that I couldn't give them away so I was elated to read your post. :)

Love,
Nina

[Angie]

Nina you are the best!

Have you heared that the monks, give people pieces of the rock under the burning bush which has small palms on it?

Thanks
Angela+++

[Trudy]

St Katherine's Ring, the one that the monks give at Mt Sanai?

Is there a picture of this ring somewhere? I am curious about what it looks like.

~Athanasia~

[Kris]

Is there a picture of this ring somewhere? I am curious about what it looks like.


The one I was given is a pretty standard looking ring - silver coloured - with a heart that has the letters AK inside it. No picture though.

[Nina]

Have you heared that the monks, give people pieces of the rock under the burning bush which has crosses on it?

Thanks
Angela+++

Dear Angela,

Wow! No, I have never heard of this... But please do tell more if you can!

L,
N


Is there a picture of this ring somewhere? I am curious about what it looks like.

~Athanasia~

Dear Athanasia,

As Kris described, the ring is very modest and simple. If there will be no pictures available for you to see, when I get back home in some days, God willing, I will take a picture and post it here.

L,
N

[Angie]

Nina,

It is a piece of rock, but not like any rock. It is engraved all over with little bushes, (ferns) like burned on but not by human hands. It is hard to describe but once you see it, you will realise it is an act of God.

It was found all around the burning bush. It is usually given to the pilgrims.
I love the story of St Katherine. Especially the bit when she wasn't baptised and Jesus wouldnd't see her. But as soon as she was baptised Jesus would look at her.

In Christ
Angela+++

[Nina]

Nina,

It is a piece of rock, but not like any rock. It is engraved all over with little bushes, (ferns) like burned on but not by human hands. It is hard to describe but once you see it, you will realise it is an act of God. It was found all around the burning bush. It is usually given to the pilgrims.

Wow! That is beautiful! Never heard it. Thank you so much for sharing it dear Angela!



I love the story of St Katherine. Especially the bit when she wasn't baptised and Jesus wouldnd't see her. But as soon as she was baptised Jesus would look at her.

In Christ
Angela+++

Ahhh the story of Saint Katherine is so dear to me also!

[Ekaterine]

Hi everyone,

I am an orthodox Christian, I am Eka and my Baptism name is Catherine,
I just found out about this ring and do u know if I can purchase this ring anywhere online?
I live in Georgia and I hope I will get to Sina mountain one day :)


may god bless u all :)

love, Catherine

[Donna Rail]

They sound beautiful.

[Mark Harris]

I found this picture http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulus_magnus/3560382168/

[Cyprian (Humphrey)]

Nina you are the best!

Have you heared that the monks, give people pieces of the rock under the burning bush which has small palms on it?

Thanks
Angela+++

I don't know if they give them away, but I've seen these types of rocks. They have small black markings that look like branches and leaves covering the entire pebbles, on all sides. Apparently, if one was to break these rocks, there would be more markings on the newly exposed surface. These markings therefore seem to permeate the entire rock.

2024

[Julia Hayes]

Perhaps you can contact the monastery here: www.sinaimonastery.com/en/contact.php

[Angie]

Hi Father Cyprian,

Thankyou for this image, I have this . Do you know the story of the rock?

Thanks
Ang

[Ekaterine]

we are talking about the ring not rock :)

[Barbara Ried Johnson]

Hello,

I have a St. Katherine ring that was given to me by my friend Magdalena after a visit to St. Katherine's at Mt. Sinai. Magdalena got special permission to bring back 4 of them. My friend Katherine wears one. The type we have are a simple silver ring with a heart with a cross on it. The band says St. Katherine.
I was told that only folks who visit St. Katherine's monastery can bring them home.
They are touched to the relics of St. Katherine. Magdalena was give the rings free of charge.

It's nice to read this forum again! I particularly like it because it tries to avoid politics and keeps things on the up and up!

Barbara

[Etsi JC Brigid W.]

I've never heard of this till now. Interesting.

[Kevin John Boddecker]

Nina,

I know this was a really old post, but is it possible that you still have an extra St Katherine ring? St Katherine is my wife's patron saint and it would be a real treasure for her to have a ring that has rested on her relics, but I doubt she and I will be able to afford anything like a trip to Sinai.

in Christ,
Rdr Kevin John

[Nina]

Nina,

I know this was a really old post, but is it possible that you still have an extra St Katherine ring? St Katherine is my wife's patron saint and it would be a real treasure for her to have a ring that has rested on her relics, but I doubt she and I will be able to afford anything like a trip to Sinai.

in Christ,
Rdr Kevin John

Dear Reader Kevin, sorry but I gave them away. I only have one which was given to me by my first SF. I would have given that ring too, if it was not from my SF and with his blessing. Sorry I have no more. :/

However there are many Orthodox groups from US which go for pilgrimages to Holy Land and drop by at Sinai. I know Greek Orthodox churches organize such trips to Sinai. Maybe there are Antiochian, OCA, or Russian groups too going from churches near you and they can bring you a ring. Rings are given as blessing for the Orthodox who visit there and they can always ask for one extra.

Your wife and you have such wonderful patron Saint. Saint Katherine is amazing.

Sorry I could not help you.

In Christ,
nina

[Father David Moser]

I just returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We were supposed to go to Mt Sinai, however, the Israeli/Palestinian/Egyptian tension was too high (even a bus was fired upon) so we were unable to go. I was, however, able to obtain a ring from the Russian Monastery in Jerusalem (Gornyenski Monastery). There was also an icon and a piece of the stone. In the packet was a leaf and a bag of medicinal herbs for tea. Does anyone know the significance of these last two traditions?

Fr David

[Kusanagi]

I think you can contact the monastery since they sell copies of the rings in their shop.
Also to let you know the rings that are sold are of different material to the ones given out to pilgrims.

[Jeremy Troy]

FYI, the Wikipedia page for St. Catherine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Alexandria) has a picture of one of the rings.

[Angie]

Hi Father David,

Could the leaf be from the burning bush?

Angela

+ Would like the ring please? :)
I have been searching for this ring too.

[Michael 'Anthony' Cornett]

My wife and I are blessed to have the St Katherine rings as our wedding bands. Our presbytera's father, who passed away nearly 3 years ago, was a presbyter at St Catherine's in Thessaloniki for many years. After his wife's passing, and as his child was grown, he had the blessing to join St Catherine's on Mt Sinai. I hear he was great friends with Archbishop Damianos. Some medical things would send him back to Thessaloniki a lot of the time, and he ended up reposing in Thessaloniki. Our presbytera inherited a box of the rings in various sizes. We were able to sift through and choose a couple. There was no way that any other ring could top that significance in my opinion, so we chose to keep them as our bands. During Geronta Pavlos's latest visit to our parish, he brought a handful of rings with him, and was handing them out to those interested. It was great to see a good group of parishioners walking around sharing the same ring.

I've also seen a variation of the ring that has a thinner band as a base, and with a heart shape that extends beyond the bounds of the band itself.

In our church altar, we also have a piece of this rock.

[Michael 'Anthony' Cornett]

In my last post, I noted a 2nd variation of the ring that I've seen, however after our recent stay in Thessaloniki, my wife was given a 3rd variation. It was confirmed by a priest at St Katherine's in Thessaloniki to be an 'older type' with much significance. 2304

[Kusanagi]

People can try and phone the guesthouse as I cannot find any other forms of communication with the monastery.

Phone +20 69 3470 353 and the fax number is +20 69 3470 543.

[Celeste B.]

Does anyone know where I may be able to obtain one of the rings given at Mount Sinai in honor of St. Catherine of Alexandria?

[Father David Moser]

Right now it is almost impossible to get to the monastery Mt Sinai due to political tensions. The Russian Mission is still not allowing any of their pilgrimage groups to go there due to the danger. AFAIK it is not the monastery that is threatened but simply the roads leading to the monastery pass through dangerous territory.

If you know of a pilgrim in the Holy Land, they can obtain St Katherine's rings as well as the herbs, leaves and oil from the bookstore at Gorney Convent (Gornyenski monasteir) outside Jerusalem.

Fr David Moser

[AnastasiosPapadopoulos]

Father David there are many μετόχια , dependent monasteries or churches of the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine here in Greece, I will try to ask in one near me, if there is a way to find the ring besides visiting there.

[Kusanagi]

There was a Romanian pilgrimage organised by the Romanian Diocese of Western Europe which took place recently to Mt Sinai. I would post their site but some reason I cannot find it on google and what I thought was the site www.mitropolia.eu seems to be taken down. I will update when I find further information.

[Father David Moser]

I went to the Holy Land in August - we were supposed to have a 2 or 3 day excursion to Mt Sinai. This was just about the time that the violence and fighting broke out and our trip, which was a "day to day" thing depending on the local situation, was finally cancelled due to danger (a tourist bus had actually been fired upon that week). Today I have another parishioner in the Holy Land and Mt Sinai was originally going to be on their itinerary as well, however, the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission (the organizer of both tours) has cancelled her trip to Mt Sinai as well because the situation is still not stable.

I do not doubt that there was a Romanian pilgrimage that went, even recently, however it is a very dangerous proposition at present and most tour organizers are not doing the trip.

Fr David Moser